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In Which Both Barney and HIMYM Prove They Can Still Sweep a Girl Off Her Feet

There are times, I know, that we think of How I Met Your Mother as the uncle who's been wowing everybody with the same cut-finger illusion for years. And this season has been kinda brutal for that boredom factor—as we've spun our wheels in Farhampton, I've definitely grumped my way into believing that the show is no longer capable of surprising us.

But last night, I felt the way I expect I'd feel if said uncle ditched the finger trick, conjured a pair of white tigers out of thin air, and pulled off his face, revealing that all along he's been Criss Angel, Uncle Criss Angel. (It's beside the point that I would, after a few minutes of being impressed, politely ask him to GET OUT.) I felt, for the first time in a while, all starry-eyed and amazed by the way things went down.

That's because last night's episode was lab-created by HIMYM's most successful formula: Pie-in-the-sky conceits + heartfelt moments - too much sap + wackiness to fill in the holes where the sap would be x misdirection = signature, heart-tugging perfection.

That last bit—the misdirection—is what makes it all ring so delightful. I mean, I spent the first 20 minutes of the episode falling right into the trap, believing with each step that the heightened Barney trouble would fall away to reveal, yep, a laser tag rehearsal dinner, planned by Robin and punctuated by a round of high-fives celebrating Robin's limitless cool-girl factor.

But what actually fell away, in the end, was the walls themselves—and I was totally charmed by the Canadian party Barney dreamt up for his fiancee (serious question: has an Alan Thicke cameo ever not made something better?). And while Ted's pratfall-on-ice had me in stitches, I was even happier to be feeling, well, just in it with Barney and Robin. This season, with its rhyming and flashbacks and flash-forwards, has sometimes been long on distraction and short on chemistry. (Sometimes, in fact, the two go hand in hand: I sort of felt like the clip of Robin telling Barney she couldn't have children was a bit of a cheat, a way to backfill in their bond.) And because this is a wedding-set season and you can't have drama without conflict, the bride and groom have spent a lot of this year being snippy with each other.

So for me, every facet of last night's sweet conclusion—the element of surprise, the Love-Actually-esque magic, and the opportunity for Barney to be a romantic hero instead of a sugar-addled instigator for five seconds—was just in the nick of time. When you spend this long at a couple's wedding, it's nice to be reminded once in a while why you're there. This episode had STILL GOT IT written all over it, and I agree.

What did you superfans think of last night's ep—specifically, where do you stand on Barney and Robin right now?